Ice Jam On The Susquehanna

Market Street Bridge

The link between Kingston and Wilkes-Barre.

Black Diamond Bridge

As a teenager, I would cross this bridge to get to Kirby Park and play tennis. The catwalk was nothing more than rotted out planks of wood I felt much better standing on metal.

Wilkes College Area in Wilkes-Barre

What Is Going On?

There is something in the air and it does not stink! As I was perusing the aisles of my local health food haunt, The House of Nutrition in downtown Luzerne, Pennsylvania, I notice the amount of fresh prepared vegan and frozen food sections have tripled! Dinners, cakes, pies, grab and go meals. I decided to go straight to the top and talk to head vegan chef Crystal and head pastry chef Kerry. And these gals walk the walk.

A Revolution

A plant based lifestyle. Even the hardcore medical establishment is embracing this movement. Ditch the meat and dairy. This is not a fad and it is not going away anytime soon. Large mainstream meat and dairy giants are scrambling for alternatives. Their sales are feeling this tidal wave. Plant based milk sales have grown 61% over the last five years. The traditional meat and dairy industry is not happy.

are not happy.

A Movie

And it really hit home with the debut of the vegan documentary, What The Health. This movie was nominated for an NAACP Award and Netflix was honored also. It has people all around the globe questioning their lives and diets, not to mention the humane treatment of animals.

I Am Listening

Bill Gates investing millions into Impossible Foods. Remind me to call my broker. The Impossible Burger is the future of protein. And Leonardo Di Caprio also investing in Beyond Meat. This is huge. Red Robin serving vegan burgers at its 560 outlets across America. Dominos Pizza serving a dairy free cheese topping. Starbucks adding oat milk to the menu due to vegan demand. And the Beyond Burger now is on menus in 450 TGI Friday Restaurants nationwide. Power of the purse.

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This Is Not Woodstock

Championship athletes are finding that by shunning the traditional heavy meat laden meals before a game, and now ada pting to whole plant based diets, it is giving them quite the edge. NBA Superstar Kyrie Irving has announced his commitment to a plant based diet. He has encouraged other team members along with Jahlil Okafor. Soon it will be called the NVA because that's how many players are going vegan and vegetarian. Derrick Morgan and his chef wife inspired vegan movement on the Titans. Julia Trezise power lifter and Venus Williams. Also Scott Jurek which is considered by some as the greatest runner of all times.

African American Community

Vegan cooking and eating are having a renaissance among black Americans, driven in partly movements like Black Lives Matter and a growing cadre of people who connect personal health, animal welfare and social justice with the fight for racial equality according to Monique Kotch known as the Brown Vegan on You Tube.

So in parting, a new year offers us a fantastic opportunity to recommit ourselves and set healthy habits.

Coal Mining History Month

A photographic essay on coal mining. Northeast Pennsylvania was known as "hard coal country."Found almost nowhere else in the world, anthracite coal for much of the 19th and 20th Centuries supplied the Eastern seaboard's fuel for heating and fuel needs. This was the fuel for the Industrial Revolution in the United States. Bootleg mining rose out of the Great Depression when workers were laid off from large coal companies. They are the independent coal miner and only a handful operate today. They were always at the hand of federal inspectors trying to shut them down for minor violations. Some were shut down for as long as eight months costing the miner tens of thousands of dollars. All they wanted was to feed their families. These bootleggers still persevere while putting themselves in dangers that we can't even imagine. Photos by Christian Abraham. He works as a full-time photojournalist at the Connecticut Post. He grew up in Wilkes-Barre, where his love for the region's mining history drew him to shoot a long term project about anthracite coal mining.